Abstract

We report a cluster of atypical Guillain-Barré syndrome
in 10 adults temporally related to a cluster
of four children with acute flaccid paralysis, over a
3-month period in South Wales, United Kingdom.
All adult cases were male, aged between 24 and 77
years. Seven had prominent facial diplegia at onset.
Available electrophysiological studies showed axonal
involvement in five adults. Seven reported various
forms of respiratory disease before onset of neurological
symptoms. The ages of children ranged from
one to 13 years, three of the four were two years old or
younger. Enterovirus testing is available for three children;
two had evidence of enterovirus D68 infection in
stool or respiratory samples. We describe the clinical
features, epidemiology and state of current investigations
for these unusual clusters of illness.